Device for providing railroad-accident insurance



G. E..D|CKS()N. A

DEVICE FOR PRUVIDING RAILROAD ACCIDENT INSURANCE.

APPucATloN FILED Amz. 1920.

1,408,175, Patented Feb. 28, 1922.

INV'ENToR. Zfw o/z/ ATTORNEY.

GEORGE E. DICKSON, 0F CHICAGO. ILLINOIS.

DEVICE FOR PROVIDING RAILROAD-ACCIDENT INSURANCE Specication of Letters Patent.

Patented Feb. 28, 1922.

Application led `April 26, 1920. Serial No. 376,544.

T0 all whom it may concern Be it known that I. Glonei; E. DIousoN. a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Chicago, county of Coolnand State of Illinois,` have invented certain new and use ful Improvements in Devices for Providinar Railroad-Accident Insurance. of which the following is a specification.

Numerous attempts have been made to provide means for insurin passengers in conjunction with a railroad.I trip. None of the proposed means have met with any degree of success for one ormore reasons, and while it is Ipossible to purchase accident insurance at some ticket oflires, the passenger agents are told not to urge the sale of such insurance because of the time and trouble incident to the issuance of the policy. This course is pursued in the face of the fact that the railroad company receives a substa'ntial percentage of the1 premium paid for the policies issued by its agents.

Again it has been proposed to issue an insurance policy as a part of a railroad ticket, but such proposal has not proven practicable for a number of reasons amongr which may be noted the large size ot the ticket required, the diliieulty, and. in fact, impossibility, of complying with the laws of different States relative to standard provisions of such policies, the size of type in which insurance policies must be printed, and the work involved in the issuance of such insurance.

The general object of my invention is to provide a method of issuing insurance to railroad passengers and devices for practising same whereby it shall be possible for railroad ticlaet agientis to issue insurance with such ease that the time required shall not be appreciabl more than is required merely to issue :i ransportation ticket.

Another object ot my invention is to provide devices for issuingr insurance to railroad l assengel's in conjunction with a passage ticket wherebyl the size of tluticket ran be as small as desired. thus enablingr the handlinLr thereof with thc usual railroad pas sengger ticket facilities. and also effecting the savinir of :iu enormous amount of paper.

Again it is :in object oi' mv invention to provirhl dei nos for issuingr insurance to railroad passengers in roniuni-tion with a pus- .szigc tif-hot u'hrrrliv thc l'rqniriuunts of thi` lans of .|ll Stairs :is to standard provisions and the size ot type required in insurance policies can be complied with, and at the same time include any and all additional provisions that may be necessary full)I and com )lately to define the insurance risk.

i y invention consists generally in a method and means whereby the above named objects together with others that will appear hereinafter are attained. and my invention will be more readily understood by reference to the acconipanying r drawings which illus trate suitable means whereby the invention can be practised.

In said drawings:

Fig. 1 is a face view of a device used in issuing insurance to a passenger and embodying my invention.

Fig. 2 is a view of the reverse side of the device shown in Fig. 1.

Fig. 3,A is a face view oi' a device similar to that shown in Fig. l but covering.r transportation between different points; and

Fig. 4. is a perspective view of a device which is related to thc devices shown in Figs. l, 2 and 3. i

l shall first briefly describe the devices shown in the` drawings and then follow with a. statement of the method of use wherein their fro-operative functioning occurs.

i. represents a ticket such as is provided for the passenger ugent for use in issuing to passengers.

2, represents a blanket accident insurance policy the original of which is on file with the general passenger agent of the railroad.

Device i. may vary widely with respect to size. printed matter thereon. and with respect to the devisible parts thereof but it will always embody certain of the fundamental characteristics shown in the drawings. As here shown, device l, is divided into three easily separable parts 3, 4 and 5 as by means of scoring 6 and 7. 0n its face side part 3 bears an inscription of such rharacter as to furnish the railroad auditor with desired information. On the face side of portion 4. l provide printed matter 9, which in substani-e indicates that it is a receipt certifyingr that the passenger whose name is signed ou this portion has paid a premium such as will entitle him to the benefits of the insurance provided by blanket insuraiuc polic \r 2. As here shown, the reverse sidi' ot portion fl is provided with a line lll for .signature of passenger.

lortion 5. in the present instance., is provided with an inscription 11 indicative of the transportation to which passenger is entitled.

Portions 3, 4 and 5 are provided with similar identifying numbers indicated at 12, 13 and 14, respectively.

Portion 4 bears, as at 15, a number and date which corresponds to the number and date 15 which the blanket accident insurance policy 2, bears.

The operation and use are as follows: The railroad and the insurance company enter into an insurance contract. This contract or policy is entitled blanket accident insurance policy (illustrated in Fig. 4, and defines fully and completely the riskthat the insurance company assumes). Such a policy, in order to state the risk definitely, will be of considerable size, probably three or four pages of legal size, but this can be as large as necessary and can be printed in type sufficiently large to comply with the laws of any and .all States because but a single olicy is issued to the railroad company.

ut what is even more important, this can contain the standard provisions required by the laws of all of the leading States. This policy is Ykept on file by the railroad where it may be examined by any one having an interest therein. Also copies of this policy may be provided so that any one interested may, upon request, secure a copy from any ticket agent.

A passenger in purchasing a ticket merely states Whether or not he wants insurance and if so he is given portions 4 and 5, which Will thereupon be stamped with the date of issuance on the back thereof as indicated by means of dotted lines at 16, and 17. This the agent can easily do as he must date every ticket issued and hence has proper fav cilities. Inasmuch as portion 4 is a mere receipt and not an insurance policy it can be made to conform to the size of the transportation part, if desired, for convenience of issuance and handling by the ticket agent.

When issuing the transportation with the insurance receipt a sum equal say to one per cent of the cost of the' ticket is added and paid for by the passenger. This amount is ample t0 provide insurance up to $5000.00 for the trip` The passenger merely signs his name on ortion 4 at line 10, as a means of identication, and retains this as his receipt in case it is necessary to claim a benefit under blanket accident insurance policy 2. at any time.

lf the passenger docs not desire insurance protection the ticket agent merely issues portion 5 to him in the usual manner, thus retaining poition 4 in his file.

The railroad company reports to the insurance company from day to day the premiums received, which it can readily do by counting the tickets that have been issued and with respect to VVi'ivhich lno portion 4 remains. i

The portion l2, i. e. auditor.s stub is not essential, but is shown as some railroads use' this form offcheck. If desired, it can be used Without interferin with the use Vand issuance of device embo ying my invention.

In Fig. 3, I have shown a device which corresponds generally to the device shown in Fi 1 except that the transportation portion in icates that transportation or paage is furnished between different points.` The premium receipt portion, however, is the same mark, and havlng a statement inscribedl thereon limiting protection to persons While in the use of transportation tickets, said ticketsinsurance premium receipt device being composed of a transportation portion and an insurance premium receipt portion havin-g mutually identifying marks, and said insurance premium receipt portion bearing a mark corresponding to the identi tying mark on said blanket accident insurance olicy.

2. plurality of ticket-insurance premium receipt devices each having a transportation portion and an insurance ;pre mium receipt portion, the transportation portions of the devices having different inscriptions thereon but the insurance premium receipt portions all having the same inscription; the different o'rtions of each device having mutually i entifying marks and the insurance premium receipt portions of different devices all having a common identifying mark; in combination with a blanket accident insurance policy having a mark corresponding with the common identifying mark borne by all said insurance premium receipt portions of said ticket-insurance premium receipt devices and h av ing a statement inscribed thereon limltlng protection to persons while in the use of transportation tickets.

Il. A plurality of ticket-insurance premium receipt devices each having a transportution portion andan insurance premium receipt )ortion` the transportation portions of the devices having different inscriptions thereon but the insurance premium receipt portions all having the same inscription, the

different portions of each device identifying marks and tually having muthe lnsurance 5 premium receipt portions having a common identifyingmark; i

n combination with a blanket accident insurance policy having e mark corresponding tifying mark borne by 10 surance receipt port with the commonA idenall seid remxum 1n- 1ons`of said tlcket-lnsurance premium receipt devices, and the premium receipt portion of each device hav ing a place for the signature of the passenger purchaser and having a statement inscribed thereon limiting protection to persons While in the use of transportation tickets.

In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand, this 6th dav of April, 1920.

GEORGE E. DICKSON. 

